Spell Seeker
A peaceful pony with a love of history and books, plus a knack for reconstructing lost spells, Spell Seeker would jump at the chance to see history. Before, that was the cause for his drive to organize an archeological expedition to find the Lost Library of Bucephalus. Now that he's been given unrestricted access to the Canterlot Archives, including the Starswirl the Bearded Wing... Early Life The son of a professor at the Canterlot Academy, Spell Seeker grew up wandering the stacks in the Canterlot Libraries. He enjoyed spending time amongst the books, which was a good thing, as his father never really seemed to have time for him. His mother was not spoken of. The only significant amount of time he spent with his father, Professor Lightning Thought, was when he read to Spell Seeker each week. He almost always read from the Daring Do books, stopping frequently to point out inaccuracies and impossibilities, making a game out of it. Looking back, Spell Seeker has occasionally wondered if his father was intentionally trying to ensure the he would never enjoy the Daring Do series, and most works of fiction. If he was, he succeeded. Foalhood Avoiding the fiction his father derided, and rarely coming into contact with other ponies his age, Spell Seeker delved deeper into the tomes and scrolls of the Canterlot Archives. He became enamored with the histories of both Equestria, and the world at large, and was fascinated by the unique magics every civilization seemed to possess. It was around this time when he gained his cutie mark. By chance, a few different books he had read recently all had mentioned the same spell, one that had been lost ages ago. Desperate, he searched out other references to the spell, and though a small few described the spell's effects in detail, none told how to cast it. Taking what pieces of the spell he could find, he set out to reconstruct this spell, the ancestor of the fireproofing spell used throughout the Library. With a good bit of work, and some careful study of the harmonic patterns of the modern variant, Spell Seeker was able to assemble what appeared to be the ancient Ignition Impedance spell. At that moment, there was a flash of light, and when his eyes cleared, he saw on his flank the image of an old red book, broken into puzzle pieces, but halfway to being reassembled. Adulthood Time passes for all ponies, and Spell Seeker was no exception. He attended Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, and following that, Canterlot Academy. He did rather well there too, and eventually became an Assistant Professor of Magical History. It was at this point when he came into conflict with his father, who had also risen in rank. Spell Seeker wanted to go into the field, on an archeological expedition to find the Lost Library of Bucephalus, and the ancient and forgotten magic that would surely lie within, and maybe support a pet theory he'd had for some time. Lightning Thought, on the other hoof, said that his academic talents would be wasted in the field, and it would be far better for him to stay in Canterlot and continue his research here. His father managed to stonewall the plans for the expedition for three years, during which time Spell Seeker was assigned to teach classes like "Introductory Magical Theory" and "Alchemy 101". Eventually though, his request was approved, and he set off for Cowro, by way of Bitaly. The expedition itself went smoothly, and the scattered references Spell Seeker had gathered proved to be accurate. With the timely aid of a group of camel nomads, he was able to find the Lost Library after a mere two and a half years. Unfortunately, time had not been kind to the Library, and it appeared that it had been slightly looted relatively recently, within the last half century. However, there was still a number of persevered scrolls in a sub-basement, which made up for a good deal. It was after this partial success, when the nomads invited the expedition to the last of the great Camel cities, Camelot, to meet their ruler, The All Seeing Sultan, and to prepare for the coming Long Night. Knowing that the Summer Solstice was approaching, Spell Seeker was dubious, but knew that the chance to meet the so called Sultan of the Stars, and witness his astrological magic, was a once in a lifetime event and not something to turn down. Even knowing this, the ponies were shocked when the sun did not rise throughout the entire solstice, and even the Sultan admitted that he did not know what was to occur, for the stars were changing more rapidly than they had in centuries. When the Sun rose at what the clock claimed should have been three hours past midnight, there was much rejoicing. As Spell Seeker returned to Equestria, he compiled all his finding into a single paper and lecture, which he planned to present at the Equestrian Expo that was to be held in Ponyville. Hobbies Spell Seeker's main pastimes are to read, and to work on whatever spell he is trying to reconstruct at the moment. However, during his years of being stonewalled he picked up what appears to be a true hobby: working on, and repairing technomagical devices. It's not. In fact, he has come across references that have lead him to believe that the modern era is not the first time technomagic and pure technology has arisen in the world, but in fact, this is the third, or possibly fourth time that this has occurred. His interest in technomagic stem from this, and the yet unanswered questions "What happened, that led to the abandonment of these devices, and why was nearly every mention of them expunged from the historical record?"